Christopher Columbus

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Works published before 1923 are now in the public domain. This Christopher Columbus file is also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris in this case Sebastiano del Piombo (1485–1547), and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from December 31 of that year.

At the northwest corner of the Italian peninsula the coast-line, as it approaches the French border, bends around to the west in such a way as to form a kind of rounded angle, which, according to the fertile fancy of the Greeks, resembles the human knee. It was probably in recognition of this geographical peculiarity that the hamlet established at this point received some centuries before the Christian era the name which has since been evolved into Genoa. The situation is not only one of the most picturesque in Europe, but it is peculiarly adapted to the development of a small maritime city.

For many miles it is the only point at which Nature has afforded a good opportunity for a harbor. Its geographical relations with the region of the Alps and the plains of northern Italy seem to have designated it as the natural point where a common desire for gain should bring into profitable relations the trading propensities of the people along the shores of the Mediterranean. During nearly two thousand years the situation was made all the more favourable by the ease with which it might be defended; for the range of mountains, which encircles it at a distance of only a few miles, made it easy for the inhabitants to protect themselves against the assaults of their' enemies.

The favouring conditions thus afforded gave to Genoa early in the Christian era a commercial prestige of some importance. The turbulence of the Middle Ages made rapidity of growth quite impossible; but in the time of the Crusades this picturesque city received a large share of that impulse which gave so much life to Venice and the other maritime towns of Italy. Like other cities of its kind, it was filled with seafaring men.

Christopher Columbus

"Seven cities claimed the Homer dead,
In which the living Homer begged his bread," —
TEXT CREDIT: Christopher Columbus: his life and his work Makers of America Author: Charles Kendall Adams. Publisher: Dodd, Mead and company, 1892. Original from: the University of California. Digitized: Sep 14, 2007. Length: 261 pages